


so you better call me (awooo, awooo, awooo)

by cantfoolajoker (lichmutual)



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Monster Hunter!Akihiko, Werewolf!Shinjiro, also im two days late from halloween oops, theres also mentions of violence but nothing detailed, they dont get together officially in this but just know i wrote this with akishinji intent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 17:09:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21285203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lichmutual/pseuds/cantfoolajoker
Summary: Akihiko, a monster hunter, comes across an old face and the charge he was looking for from a recent believed monster attack that killed a mother and left her son missing. His world is rocked, and for once, running away is the most valid option.
Relationships: Aragaki Shinjiro/Sanada Akihiko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	so you better call me (awooo, awooo, awooo)

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted this done by halloween and i mean. i'm two days late. shhh. anyway its monster hunter akihiko/werewolf shinjiro time! 
> 
> the title comes from awooo by lovecraft which is the song that both inspired this au and also what i had on repeat while writing this lmao

Akihiko’s mission was simple: find the Amada kid and kill the creature that kidnapped him.

It had been a sudden call one night; apparently there was a lot of yelling and screaming at the apartments behind the train station out of town, with the building crumpling under the force of some sort of fight going on. When the dust cleared, there was a dead woman, her son missing, and reports of a large furry humanoid seen leaving the area. That had been a few hours ago, leading to the current position the monster hunter was in now as he kicked some loose rubble and focused on the foot marks left in the dirt.

The dogs trained to follow the scents of monsters wouldn’t be here for another hour or so, leaving Akihiko to ponder on his next step. The longer he waited, the more likely the kid was going to get hurt, or worse, killed. Biting his lip thoughtfully, he ran his fingers along the metallic knuckles he wore. He could follow the footsteps, but he did run the chance of getting lost and encountering a point where the tracks died down. He wasn’t afraid of what monster it could be; quite the contrary, he was an adept fighter. He was confident in his punching and dodging skills, but not so much in his navigation skills.

Still, trying was better than never having done anything at all. With that, the man set out, following the tracks into the forest.

\---

Shinjiro’s thought process was simple: you kill the rogue vampire about to cause a major panic, and then you yourself panic and realize they’d already bitten someone and that someone was about to kill their kid in an awakened state of feral rage.

Shinjiro hadn’t meant to kill the woman- only subdue her, shifting to his large wolfman state so his thick fur could take the brunt of any biting that could be done. The falling ceiling light had hit her square on the head though and knocked her out, and Shinjiro panicked, only noticing then that the small brown haired boy was still laying limp and had two puncture holes bleeding on his neck.

“Koromaru,” he spoke gruffly, turning to the white furred shrine dog that accompanied him. “I need you to go find an area to rest for tonight. I’ll follow you after I get the kid and anything else he needs.”

Koromaru barked in response, almost nodding his head like he understood what Shinjiro had told him before he darted off, hopping through the shattered window the original vampire had broken in through that caused this whole mess. Sighing, Shinjiro shrugged his coat off to use as a makeshift wrap to bundle the kid up in so he had some comfort from the cold winds that night and a sense of privacy from the rest of the world for the time being. Shinjiro knew what it was like to wake up post turning; feeling disgusted and lost were two major feelings that most turned monsters could sympathize with. He only hoped to ease the pain for now, picking up the kid who couldn’t have been older than ten and holding him in his arms.

_ This is gonna be a rough night, _ Shinjiro thought as he stepped out and avoided the broken glass shards carefully, bracing himself against the cold winds and the barely audible gasps as those souls who were awake to see a wolfman in the rays of the moon normally did before the screams broke out.

\---

Akihiko had caught the faint scent of smoke, dropping into an alert crouched position and slowly inching his way closer to the source of the smell. His fingers curled to form fists, bringing his hands up as if he were ready to fight if this was trouble. He wasn’t as quiet as he could have been though, as soft hushed voices immediately silenced when a stray tree branch cracked and shattered under the weight of his foot.

He heard the immediate shift, a huff turning into a snarl at his presence, but Akihiko wasn’t one to be intimidated. He threw a punch first, only taking in the tall furry humanoid in order to size himself up, but he was met with a hand collapsing over and holding him back with equal force.

There was a pause, however, as the monster didn’t reciprocate or shove him back, just holding his fist to keep him under some control and at a distance. “A-Aki?” it finally spoke-  _ he _ finally spoke, a familiar voice and soft nickname Akihiko hadn’t heard in years. Years since  _ he _ had left one night from the orphanage and was never seen again.

Akihiko took in the sight of Shinjiro Aragaki, a man he’d known since childhood and his partner in crime, amongst the fur and lupine features. Shinjiro was usually hard to read, but not tonight, as his face betrayed a look of confusion with a hint of fear. There was a second growl, not one that belonged to Shinjiro this time around, and Akihiko noticed the white dog shifting to guard the small frightened brown haired boy.  _ The Amada kid. _

“Shinji, I-” Akihiko started, feeling the edges of his world crumble. “What the  _ hell _ is going on?”

Shinjiro’s pointed ears tilted downward in displeasure, and his lips pulled back in a hint of a snarl. “Can you  _ please _ keep it down? We don’t need more attention on us right now.” With that, he released his hand, carefully keeping his eyes on him.

Akihiko braced himself, the words hitting him harder than any punch could have. His hand dropped to his side, and he found himself unable to look at Shinjiro, instead finding the way the leaves on the ground had been ripped and smushed since they had fallen so far from where they belonged more interesting. 

Shinjiro wasn’t bad, he reasoned. This was his friend. If he were actually bad, he would have attacked him already, meaning he couldn’t be bad. He was never a monster- or has he always been and Akihiko had just never noticed? The questions whirled in Akihiko’s mind, his questions finding their own answers as he made excuses for Shinjiro before he even spoke. He’d always make excuses for Shinjiro.

“Alright,” Akihiko said with a soft breath, not even realizing he had been holding it. “Just- what is going on?”

Shinjiro huffed, an action he normally did in an attempt to hide his emotions that Akihiko normally always saw through. The slight lip curl revealing fangs didn’t scare Akihiko as it maybe should have, because those fangs and those lips were attached to the face of someone he grew up with. Someone he knew. Or, at least, he thought he knew.

“A monster turned the kid and his mom,” Shinjiro said to the point, but his tone was soft, equalling Akihiko’s own tone. He watched the way one of Shinjiro’s ears flicked to the kid in question, who was leaning over the white dog planted firmly in front of him with curious but fearful eyes as if he wanted to know what was being said but didn’t want to get too close. “I was sent to take care of the rogue, but it broke in and turned her already. And, uh, certain people take to vampirism very harshly, and she was about to drain him of all his blood before I stepped in.”

Akihiko could see it now, the white pad held down with firm bandaging on the kid’s neck. Oh, this changed the situation entirely. “I’m taking him somewhere safe,” Shinjiro continued, “somewhere that people like you won’t be able to hurt him.”

Oh, people like him.

That changed the situation entirely.

That kid in front of him was technically his mortal enemy now. By oath, anyway. 

He’d have to kill him.

Just like he’d have to kill Shinjiro.

A kid whose choice in life was taken from him and someone who was only trying to help.

The words hit him like a bucket of ice water, dunked over his head and seeping through to his bones and his heart. He felt cold, cold to his very core at the idea that his small quivering child was his enemy. And he knew the truth in the words, their weight being the main thing holding him down. If he took him back with him, the guild would kill him without a second thought.

They were monster hunters. No monster left alive, regardless of circumstances or age.

Akihiko took a shaky breath as the information finally allowed him the chance to breathe, the drowning feeling passing over him slowly, like the tide in the moonlight. He could only find it in himself to lower his head more, feeling ashamed, the same feeling he felt after the fire in the orphanage. He couldn’t face Shinjiro with the knowledge that they both knew what would happen. 

“Was that why you left?” he asked.

“Aki,” Shinjiro started gently, a sharp tooth snagging on his lip as he sighed through his nose, hard and audible. “You know how I had a limp that week after the full moon? I got really aggravated at everything and almost bit one of the other brats?”

“You almost bit  _ me _ ,” Akihiko corrected him, a chuckle escaping him, but it was airy, light, unlike the information settling on him. 

Shinjiro grunted, only giving a nod of his head. “I got scratched that full moon,” he told him, but Akihiko could already piece that together.

“Were you-” Akihiko gulped, choking on his words, “were you afraid of me?”

There was only a shift of weight in response, Shinjiro leaning on his other foot now in silence, yet it spoke the world to Akihiko in that moment.

“Right,” he could only continue, not wanting to dwell on the silence any longer. “Are  _ you _ safe there? Are-” Akihiko paused, struggling with his emotions, knowing he was an open book in that moment for someone he hadn’t seen in years, a dog, and a confused kid. He finally looked up, finding it in him to meet Shinjiro’s steely gaze. “Are you  _ happy _ there?”

Shinjiro paused, not betraying a single emotion as he provided a shrug in response. “I’ll be safe as long as no hunter or human knows where it is. Same for the kid, the dog, and anyone else that lives there,” he informed him, giving a tilt of his head and an ear flick in the direction of the mentioned two.

The answer made Akihiko ache. He expected it, knowing that him and Shinjiro could never actually keep being friends with this information. He’d left for a reason.

“That’s a good idea,” he told him, giving him a small nod. His eyes shifted to look at the kid, who was still watching the two talk intently, and they returned to Shinjiro. “You’ll take care of him, right?”

Shinjiro snorted, the force of it causing his ears to twitch before dropping to press against his messy brown hair. He hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t wearing his normal beanie, though he guessed it would obstruct his hearing if he were to wear it. “What kind of person do you take me for?” the wolfman asked, but it wasn’t in an angry way, the gruffness of it being softened by the way the corners of his lips twitched upward. “‘Course I will.”

Akihiko managed to return the ghost of a smile, but the moment was cut short by Shinjiro, who glanced upward at the sky and back at him. “You should leave,” he told him, his fur fluffing up at a particular gust of cold wind. “Don’t want you getting in trouble for having monster smell on you.”

They both knew Akihiko was going to let them live. Akihiko didn’t know whether to be angry that Shinjiro saw through him so easily or that he was right. 

Instead, he moved forward and wrapped his arms around him, bringing him into a tight hug that got a gruff “hey” in response, though there wasn’t any hesitation in the arms that returned his hug. “I’ll bathe in the creek and sleep in the house so the dogs won’t pick up on it,” he assured him, patting his back before pulling away. “I’m, uh, sorry for intruding,” he added on, glancing at the boy so it was clear that the apology was indicated for both of them.

The boy nodded his head in silence, mouth slightly agape, and Akihiko tried not to stare at the small fangs that had already formed in his mouth. 

With that, Akihiko gave a nod, turning to leave despite the way his heart yelled at him to not. Told him to stay.

He could barely hear the soft “I’m sorry, Aki” over the cold winds that blew that night.

\---

Akihiko had done what he said, finding himself cold and shivering that night in the rubble of a home. The dogs hadn’t picked up on the scent of Shinjiro on him, thankfully, and instead were focused on the body of the vampire that had been hidden underneath a collapsed part of the wall. There was a lot of back and forth conversation between other hunters, attempting to form some theory on what happened, but Akihiko never dared to speak up about the info he knew.

The case had mostly been put on the back burner in favor of other cases, which Akihiko never commented on either in fear that it would cause Shinjiro and the kid to be found. He couldn’t save the life of one, but he was damn well going to try to protect the lives of two others.

A week later and he had taken time off, deciding he didn’t want to go on the monthly monster hunt that most hunters grouped together for, where they scouted high and low and had a competition for how many they could take hostage. The idea made him sick to his stomach now, having the greatest reality check he could have had upon seeing Shinjiro that night.

He decided to do his own research, picking through the biased propaganda that was fed to most of the towns people and himself included. He remembered still the fire elemental that burned the orphanage and cost Miki her life, that solid anger equally burning bright in him that he couldn’t do anything, couldn’t save her. However, he pondered if that anger should be taken out on people like Shinjiro and the Amada kid, who were simply just existing, living their way through life just as he was.

Was what he was doing right? Ethical? 

Past Akihiko would have said  _ yes, I’m doing the right thing.  _

Current Akihiko was a wiggly hand at best.

Future Akihiko? Not something he was even thinking about in that moment, still needing to get a grip on the current revelations at hand. 

He took a walk around town, deciding fresh air after being wrapped up in dust and books would do him good to clear his mind. He was off his game and he needed to reassess and find how he wanted to play it now with the current situation in front of him. However, the problem came from he wasn’t focusing on a physical thing he could target; it was more like a concept, something ingrained through words and images than any one person he could punch in the jaw and feel better.

Akihiko did find a person though, his eyes widening and then narrowing dangerously on a familiar tall figure with a black beanie stuck to his head and a red coat he last saw wrapped around the kid whose face was currently plastered on posters in town.

“Shinji,” he hissed as soon as he was close, unable to stop the stomp he had in his step and the anger in his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Why are you making a  _ scene _ ?” Shinjiro asked him in turn with equal hiss, looking around to ensure that passing ears weren’t prying on their conversation as he stuffed his final bag of groceries into his bag. 

Akihiko huffed, which was met with Shinjiro huffing too, as if to one up him subtly.

“I’m buying food,” the man told him, closing and sealing his bag.

“Do- Do you have to do that in town?” Akihiko asked, unable to stop the words from coming out due to his bewilderment at the situation.

“I mean, it’s not like we get, y’know, shipments of spices and stuff,” Shinjiro pointed out, tossing his bag over his shoulder with a grunt. He didn’t need to specify where he was talking about, as the two knew what it was; it was best not to be specific anyway, as Akihiko feared the breathing down one’s neck atmosphere the town suddenly had with the knowledge he possessed.

Akihiko noted the differences in his face, the way the sun highlighted his complexion and specifically the lack of fur accenting it. He looked normal, as if the little Shinji he’d known had grown up into the tall and handsome man in front of him without any problems or predicaments to be encountered. His hair was still long and messy, hidden under the classic beanie (did it just _ shift? _ ), and his broad shoulders and toned figure was hidden under the red coat he was wearing like he didn’t want to be seen. 

He never wanted to be seen; Shinjiro hated having eyes on him. It was why Akihiko wasn’t really surprised by the sudden turn and attempt to exit the conversation, but Akihiko followed, stubborn as he’d always been.

“Why are you following me?” Shinjiro finally asked after a few paces, turning back to look at him.

“I’m going to escort you out of town,” Akihiko answered, trying his best to sound firm and serious like how other hunters held themselves to get people to do what they said. Shinjiro wasn’t having any of it though, and he could see that in the way Shinjiro quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Escort me? Really?” A roll of his eyes followed the repeated statement as he tried to leave once more. “I can take care of myself, Aki.”

“Shinji-”

“Don’t you  _ ‘Shinji, I’m serious’ _ me,” Shinjiro told him, turning again to look at him and give him a hard gaze. 

“You do know you’re literally  _ wanted  _ right now, right?”

“When am I ever not wanted?”

Well, he had a point there. Akihiko crossed his arms and bit his lip gently, attempting to find a proper retort before Shinjiro turned away and left for good.

“Just let me come with you.” Well, that came out maybe a bit more desperate than intended.

Akihiko was relieved though to see Shinjiro sigh, his shoulders drooping slightly before they returned to their normal hunched position. “God, you’re as stubborn as ever.” With that, he turned again, though this time cocking his head and nodded for him to follow.

Akihiko felt a pang in his heart at the comment, the lip biting only worsening until the pain was numbed just like the way he felt. He took the olive branch and tagged along, finding himself to fall into pace with Shinjiro just like old times. It was difficult not to fall into old times when he was with Shinjiro; it was like he’d grown up yet hadn’t aged at all.

Akihiko was on alert immediately as they began to hit the edge of town, realizing the hunters’ party had come back early and was filled with the bred and raised monster hunting dogs. They were larger than normal dogs, meant to take down most large monsters in solos or duos, with snarls that gleamed in the dark and eyes that bore into your soul.

Akihiko sensed Shinjiro shift beside him, almost hesitant as he stared down the proper entrance to the forest, before he turned and decided to head down a nearby alley way without a word. Akihiko made a small noise of surprise, glancing between the offending group and his friend before deciding to follow. There was a beat of silence in the rush to leave, but Akihiko could hear the start of barking in the growing distance, a sign that they were alerting of a monster’s presence. His anxiety only spiked as Shinjiro picked up the pace.

It didn’t take long for them to break out into a run the moment they hit the other entrance to the forest, a side path that had been long since forgotten after bush overgrowth covered it next to an abandoned house with a garden that had long since been taken care of. The feeling was exhilarating, Akihiko’s heart pumping fast as his legs tried to keep up with Shinjiro’s pace.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Shinjiro asked him as soon as they had left, glancing back at him.

“Do we have any other options?” Akihiko retorted. “And no, leaving you is not an option.”

That earned a fanged grin from Shinjiro, a genuine one paired with an equally genuine statement. “That’s the Aki I know.”

And Akihiko laughed, a joyous laugh that filled his body with energy and happiness. More happiness than he’d felt in years. It surprised him, considering the circumstances, but he still had a grin plastered on his face as he ran for his life with his best friend and it was exhilarating.

They ran for what felt like forever, enjoying the familiar feeling of being side by side even when Akihiko got a limp in his step and Shinjiro was struggling to breathe. Akihiko could see the faint houses in the distance now, little homes built lovingly from the ground up, and that was when it hit him.

Oh, he could never go back now.

Oh, he didn’t really mind that.

As they came to a stop, Shinjiro turned to Akihiko, and he could see the same realization dawn on his face too. There’s a pause, a beat or two going by, before Shinjiro spoke. “I’m sorry.”

“What on earth for?” Akihiko asked, genuine confusion lacing his tone. He’d already accepted this outcome.

“I- y’know, I did just uproot you from your place.” Shinjiro reached a hand behind to rub the back of his neck, glancing to the side as Akihiko watched his movements carefully. He seemed to be almost…. regretful. “I know you were workin’ hard and all.”

“I’ve done more that matters in these few hours than I have in my entire life.”

Shinjiro paused again, but he reached forward with his free hand, patting Akihiko’s shoulder. This was overshadowed by the side hug that followed, the same arm reaching to wrap around Akihiko and pulling him close, the owner of it simply chuckling gently, vulnerably. “Man, I’ve missed you.”

Akihiko stood in shock, knowing how rare any sort of physical contact was from Shinjiro. It was a blue moon moment, one Akihiko would give the world for, and he realized he had given his whole world for Shinjiro in that moment.

Slowly reaching his arms around and grasping him tightly, Akihiko was almost clinging to him like a little kid. He felt emotionally exhausted after the past week, having found someone he thought was dead and gone and finding a fire in him reignited that he hadn’t known he’d lost. He’d pushed more than he should have, sure, but Shinjiro was  _ here _ and  _ alive _ and in front of him, and he was able to breathe in his familiar smell. That it reminded him of whenever they shared a bed when it got cold in the orphanage and hear the slightly different octaves his voice despite his best attempt at taking a stone cold approach to everything. 

His voice was soft, gentle as he sniffled and tried to find a way to hold back his raging emotions as he spoke in a whisper.

“I’ve missed you too.”

  
  
  



End file.
